Puck Daddy

One of these eight players will be the cover model for EA Sports’ NHL 14:

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From EA Sports:

The Round of 16 featured some extraordinarily close matchups and included some notable upsets:

The Battle of Pennsylvania: For the second year in a row, Evgeni Malkin has been defeated by a Philadelphia Flyers player. Last year, Malkin lost to NHL 13 Cover Athlete Claude Giroux in the semifinals. This year, Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds unseeded Malkin.

As Close as they Come: At final tally, less than 100 votes separated winner Taylor Hall and his opponent Matt Duchene in this round.

Two Maple Leafs Advance: against Original SixTM Rivals: A strong Game Six performance may have helped Joffrey Lupul and James van Riemsdyk overcome their opponents, P.K. Subban and Tyler Seguin, respectively.

Voting for this round is now live and fans can vote an unlimited number of times at NHL.com/CoverVote. The round closes on May 19 at 11:59pm ET.

Two goalies alive for the cover, with Sergei Bobrovsky of the Columbus Blue Jackets guaranteeing terrible sales in Philadelphia and Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils … guaranteeing terrible sales in Philadelphia, actually?

You want great sales in Philadelphia? Give the people Wayne Simmonds of the Philadelphia Flyers, who would incidentally be only the second black player to grace the cover after Jarome Iginla of the Calgary Flames in 2003.

Pavel Datsyuk is still in the mix, and he’s the living embodiment of a video game player. John Tavares is great and all, but let’s wait until the Islanders start wearing super awesome black and white jerseys in Brooklyn. (Sorry, Isles fans, but you know it’s coming. Jay-Z will find a way.)

But seriously: If you’re not going to vote for Dats, vote for Bob. Do it.